GPI 2016 Canadian Grand Prix Edition | Page 86

GREAT MENTAL STRENGTH R ed Bull team principal Christian Horner enjoyed a dig at Mercedes counterpart Toto Wolff after 18-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen successfully held off championship leader Nico Rosberg in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. The teenager, who was only eight years old when Rosberg made his Formula 1 debut in 2006, finished fourth at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with the vastly more experienced Mercedes driver fifth. Rosberg tried repeatedly to pass in the closing laps but Verstappen, who last month became Formula One’s youngest winner with victory on his team debut in Spain, showed plenty of racecraft and determination to keep the German at bay. When the Mercedes driver did get past, he spun and lost the place again. “He’s shown great mental strength,” said Horner of a youngster who followed up his Barcelona win by crashing in Monaco during qualifying and the race.